Normalised muscle force and relaxation rates in subnourished and aged human subjects

Is the muscle weakness associated with ageing and subnutrition simply due to muscle atrophy. Can the weakness be reversed by training. Maximal voluntary force (MVF) measurements of adductor pollicis (AP) muscle were made during maximum voluntary contractions (MVC's) and normalised for anatomical cross-sectional area (CSA) in three subject groups: normally-nourished young; normally-nourished elderly; and subnourished young patients. In the subnourished patients MVF was significantly less, relative to their heights, than in the young control group but normalised force (MVF/CSA) was unchanged. Normal maximum relaxation rates (MRR) were significantly slower in the patients than in the controls. The elderly also showed significantly reduced MVF relative to their heights and in addition the mean ratio of MVF/CSA for the elderly was significantly less than that for the young nourished. MRR was no different in the two groups. A comparison was made of AP muscle CSA's measured directly (by means of CAT and n.m.r scans) with muscle CSA's measured by the method used in the present, reported studies. There was a good correlation between CSA's obtained by CAT/n.m.r. and the method used in the present studies, indicating that the present method gives a good estimate of AP muscle CSA. An evaluation was made of the effectiveness of an adductor pollicis strength training regime for future use in investigating the effects of strength training on aged muscle. No training effect was found. The experience gained prompted the development of an improved force measuring apparatus. An investigation was made into the force and cross- sectional area characteristics of the AP in a group of experienced fencers. This was intended as a means of evaluating the use of the newly-developed force- measuring apparatus, and as a preliminary to an intended training study of AP in the elderly. The new force- measuring apparatus gave a better correlation with measured AP muscle CSA's than did the old-style force transducer. No training effect was found in the AP of the fencers' fencing hand. Using the new, improved force measuring apparatus, a group of normally-nourished elderly and a group of normally-nourished young were tested for maximality of their muscle recruitment by means of twitch superimposition. There was a strong indication that both groups were able to maximally activate their adductor pollicis muscle during maximum voluntary contraction. It appears that in the young subnourished at least, the weakness associated with subnourishment is due largely to atrophy. It is evident that the muscle weakness associated with age is not due simply to muscle atrophy. There is in the elderly an inherent decline in the force- producing capability of AP muscle

A Peer Review Benchmark Portfolio for ARCH 411: Integrate

In North American universities, the comprehensive, or integrative studio, represents an important moment in the curriculum of architecture programs where students are likely to encounter especially challenging design problems due to the integrative thinking required at a number of scales. Providing students with concepts and tools to handle these problems at this stage is therefore crucial to their success in the studio and their development as architects. This research explores the application of dynamic multi-objective optimization (DMOO) concepts and tools within a comprehensive studio context to help students improve their ability to explore tradeoffs between design solutions. DMOO offers a rigorous conceptual framework and provides methods for the comparative analysis of design solutions and their trade-offs. To test this claim, a pedagogical methodology to integrate these concepts and tools is described and then tested through the comparative analysis of student work. The results show that use of DMOO concepts and tools in the early and late stages of design does improve exploration of trade-offs between possible design solutions

Deep learning in urban analysis for health

The application of deep learning to urban health analysis is in its early stages, but offers new and promising capabilities in using large image-based datasets to better understand the built environment and its effects on human health. This chapter will introduce and explore some of these capabilities, providing the allied design fields with a roadmap of this emerging area of research, its potentials, and current challenges. The chapter begins with a brief overview of existing research related to urban morphology and health, in which precedent work using traditional methods as well as deep learning are introduced. Next, research is presented demonstrating methods for the use of discriminative and generative deep learning processes for both urban health estimation and analysis. The chapter then concludes with a discussion of key challenges and directions for future work in this emerging field of research

Collaboration within the UK Farm Industry

This paper addresses the effectiveness of the traditional models of cooperation, and analyses best practices in other commercial sectors in order to identify transferable elements. The Report of the Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food (2002) identified a need for farmers to cooperate and collaborate more effectively in their business activities in order to be more competitive. The Plunkett Foundation (1992) suggests that in order to play an important role in the maintenance of the rural economy the Farmer Controlled Business should adopt more imaginative approaches. Using an inductive grounded theory approach and guided interview techniques, experts in the field of business collaboration were selected using a purposive sample approach and interviewed using an iterative Delphi model. Interviewees were leading academics, government officials and managers of the most profitable and/or innovative EU based cooperatives. Having been asked to identify and evaluate the operational characteristics of traditional models of cooperation, respondents were encouraged to identify the ideal characteristics of any replacement business frameworks. A culture of "arm focus"and a lack of "global" understanding were identified as very important factors affecting cooperation. In addition to this, the intrinsic limitations of the traditional model of cooperation were recognized as an important limitation, as well as the personal characteristics and skills of the members were identified as relevant barriers. The paper concludes that addressing the problems of culture and attitude is a long-term process. Therefore the solution could come from models, where the members do not necessarily have the required vision or culture, but they are part of a bigger organization that has the needed consumer and food chain focus. The key factor is to gain recognition of the need to fundamentally address organizational structure.cooperatives, collaboration, supply food chain, organizational structure, farming, Agribusiness, Industrial Organization,

An empirical calibration to estimate cool dwarf fundamental parameters from H-band spectra

Interferometric radius measurements provide a direct probe of the fundamental parameters of M dwarfs, but is within reach for only a limited sample of nearby, bright stars. We use interferometrically-measured radii, bolometric luminosities, and effective temperatures to develop new empirical calibrations based on low-resolution, near-infrared spectra. We use H-band Mg and Al features to derive calibrations for effective temperature, radius and log luminosity; the standard deviations in the residuals of our best fits are, respectively, 73K, 0.027Rsun, and 0.049 dex (11% error on luminosity). These relationships are valid for mid K to mid M dwarf stars, roughly corresponding to temperatures between 3100 and 4800K. We apply our calibrations to M dwarfs targeted by the MEarth transiting planet survey and to the cool Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs). We independently validate our calibrations by demonstrating a clear relationship between our inferred parameters and the absolute K magnitudes of the MEarth stars, and we identify objects with magnitudes too bright for their estimated luminosities as candidate multiple systems. We also use our inferred luminosities to address the applicability of near-infrared metallicity calibrations to mid and late M dwarfs. The temperatures we infer for the KOIs agree remarkably well with those from the literature; however, our stellar radii are systematically larger than those presented in previous works that derive radii from model isochrones. This results in a mean planet radius that is 15% larger than one would infer using the stellar properties from recent catalogs. Our results confirm those of previous in-depth studies of Kepler-42, Kepler-45, and Kepler-186.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. Tables 4 and 5, and machine readable versions of Tables 5 and 7 are available in the ApJ journal articl

The Effects of COVID-19 Shelter In Place Policies on US Demonstrations

This study provides evidence of a link between Shelter in Place (SIP) policy response during the pandemic and demonstration events. Through the combination of daily county-level government policy response to SIP implementation to limit the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States (US) and cell phone mobility data, this research studied how demonstrations and violence are affected following shutdown policies. A dynamic framework is visible due to the staggered effect of policies implementation across the US. At the national level, the results showed reduced participation in demonstration events at the national level, suggesting that increasing social costs may limit public demonstrations. However, regional results indicate dependence on population density (urban vs. rural) or location (west vs. east coast), along with the benefits of pursuing social well-being, outweigh the additional costs SIP police bring. The research will conclude with a discussion on potential reasons behind this heterogeneity and why it is essential to understand the repercussions of blanketed US policies on individual behavior and social well-being. The research of this paper contributes to the study of pandemic modeling on demonstrations in the US. First, it provides a theoretical framework using multiple economic modeling approaches to study the relationship between SIP policies and demonstrations. Second, this county/day level data is one of the first studies to look at the individual behavior effects in the US. Third, a fuller view of the region is observed by using a combination of statistical analyses, qualitative assessments, and geographical clustering

Strength and Durability Characteristics of a 70% Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS) Concrete Mix

For a bridge pier and abutment mass concrete project, three mixes were studied: an ordinary portland cement (OPC) mix (Type I PC) and two 70% by weight ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) mixes (Type II Low Heat PC). One of the slag mixes contained a high range water reducer (HRWR). Tests for compressive strength, freezethaw durability, rapid chloride permeability, and salt scaling were conducted on field samples. Results showed that the strengths of the slag mixes were lower than the OPC mix at all ages up to one year, although the use of HRWR did improve the strength somewhat. Freeze-thaw durability and salt scaling resistance of both slag mixes were inferior compared to the OPC control. However, under optimized wet plus dry curing periods, slag mix durability did approach that of the OPC mix. Chloride permeability of both slag mixes was significantly lower than the OPC mix. Analysis of past studies indicates that, although slag replacements up to 80% have been used successfully, in order for slag mixes to reach strength parity with OPC mixes, the optimum replacement of PC by slag usually falls between 40 and 60%, depending on the nature and proportions of the materials. Laboratory mixes were made which reflected variables of age, PC type, w/cm, and total cementitious material content. It was concluded that although the optimum slag proportion for strength was 50%, slag replacement levels of up to 70% could be used to achieve moderate strength levels. Strength parity with zero slag mixes is possible with 70 % slag under proper conditions, which include sufficient activity of the slag-PC system